PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you all. Prime Minister Tony Blair, welcome back
to the White House. As you know, we've got a close relationship. You tell
me what you think. You share with me your perspective -- and you let me
know when the microphone is on. (Laughter.)

Today the Prime Minister and I talked about the ways we're working to
advance freedom and human dignity across the world. Prime Minister Blair
and I discussed the crisis in the Middle East. In Lebanon, Hezbollah and
its Iranian and Syrian sponsors are willing to kill, and to use violence to
stop the spread of peace and democracy -- and they're not going to succeed.

The Prime Minister and I have committed our governments to a plan to make
every effort to achieve a lasting peace out of this crisis. Our top
priorities in Lebanon are providing immediate humanitarian relief,
achieving an end to the violence, ensuring the return of displaced persons,
and assisting with reconstruction. We recognize that many Lebanese people
have lost their homes, so we'll help rebuild the civilian infrastructure
that will allow them to return home safely.

Our goal is to achieve a lasting peace, which requires that a free,
democratic and independent Lebanese government be empowered to exercise
full authority over its territory. We want a Lebanon free of militias and
foreign interference, and a Lebanon that governs its own destiny, as is
called for by U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1559 and 1680.

We agree that a multinational force must be dispatched to Lebanon quickly,
to augment a Lebanese army as it moves to the south of that country. An
effective multinational force will help speed delivery of humanitarian
relief, facilitate the return of displaced persons, and support the
Lebanese government as it asserts full sovereignty over its territory and
guards its borders.

We're working quickly to achieve these goals. Tomorrow, Secretary Rice
will return to the region. She will work with the leaders of Israel and
Lebanon to seize this opportunity to achieve lasting peace and stability
for both of their countries. Next week, the U.N. Security Council will
meet, as well. Our goal is a Chapter 7 resolution setting out a clear
framework for cessation of hostilities on an urgent basis, and mandating
the multinational force.

Also at the United Nations, senior officials from many countries will meet
to discuss the design and deployment of the multinational force. Prime
Minister Blair and I agree that this approach gives the best hope to end
the violence and create lasting peace and stability in Lebanon. This
approach will demonstrate the international community's determination to
support the government of Lebanon, and defeat the threat from Hezbollah and
its foreign sponsors.

This approach will make possible what so many around the world want to see:
the end of Hezbollah's attacks on Israel, the return of Israeli soldiers
taken hostage by the terrorists, the suspension of Israel's operations in
Lebanon, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

This is a moment of intense conflict in the Middle East. Yet our aim is to
turn it into a moment of opportunity and a chance for a broader change in
the region. Prime Minister Blair and I remain committed to the vision of
two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side-by-side in peace
and security. This vision has been embraced by Israel, the Palestinians,
and many others throughout the region and the world, and we will make every
effort to make this vision a reality. The United States is committed to
using all of its influence to seize this moment to build a stable and
democratic Middle East.

We also talked about other regions and other challenges and other
conflicts. The Prime Minister and I each met with the Prime Minister of
Iraq this week. The U.S. and U.K. are working together to support the
Prime Minister and his unity government, and we will continue to support
that government.

Afghanistan's people and their freely-elected government can also count on
our support. Our two nations urge Iran to accept the EU-3 offer, which
also has the backing of Russia, China, and the United States. We agree
that the Iranian regime will not be allowed to develop or acquire nuclear
weapons. The suffering in Darfur deserves the name of genocide. Our two
nations support a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur, which is
the best hope for the people in that region.

I want to thank you for coming. It's good to discuss these urgent matters
with you. We will continue to consult with each other as events unfold in
the Middle East and beyond. The alliance between Britain and America is
stronger than ever, because we share the same values, we share the same
goals, and we share the same determination to advance freedom and to defeat
terror across the world.

Mr. Prime Minister.

PRIME MINISTER BLAIR: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for your
welcome to the White House once again. And first of all, I'd like to say
some words about the present Middle East crisis, and then we'll talk about
some of the other issues that we discussed.

What is happening in the Middle East at the moment is a complete tragedy
for Lebanon, for Israel and for the wider region. And the scale of
destruction is very clear. There are innocent lives that have been lost,
both Lebanese and Israeli. There are hundreds of thousands of people that
have been displaced from their homes, again, both in Lebanon and in Israel.
And it's been a tremendous and terrible setback for Lebanon's democracy.

We shouldn't forget how this began, how it started. In defiance of the
U.N. Resolution 1559, Hezbollah, for almost two years, has been fortifying
and arming militia down in the south of Lebanon, when it is the proper and
democratically elected government of Lebanon and its armed forces who
should have control of that area, as they should of the whole of Lebanon.
They then, in defiance of that U.N. resolution, crossed the U.N. blue line.
As you know, they kidnapped two Israeli soldiers; they killed eight more.
Then, of course, there was the retaliation by Israel, and there are rockets
being fired from the south of Lebanon into the north of Israel the entire
time.

So we know how this situation came about and how it started, and the
question is, now, how to get it stopped and get it stopped with the urgency
that the situation demands.

Since our meeting in St. Petersburg for the G8, we have been working hard
on a plan to ensure that this happens. And as well as, obviously, the
consultations that I've had with President Bush, I've spoken to President
Chirac, Chancellor Merkel, Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey, the President
of the European Union, the Prime Minister of Finland, and many, many
others.

And as the President has just outlined to you, I think there are three
essential steps that we can take in order to ensure that there is the
cessation of hostilities we all want to see. The first is, I welcome very
much the fact that Secretary Rice will go back to the region tomorrow. She
will have with her the package of proposals in order to get agreement both
from the government of Israel and the government of Lebanon on what is
necessary to happen in order for this crisis to stop.

Secondly, we are bringing forward to Monday the meeting in the United
Nations about the international stabilization force. And again, this is
something we've been discussing with various different countries over the
past few days. The absolute vital importance of that force is that it is
able to ensure that the agreement the international community comes to in
respect of Lebanon is enforced, and that we have the government of Lebanon
able to make its writ run fully with its own armed forces in the south of
Lebanon.

And then, thirdly, as the President has just said to you, we want to see
tabled and agreed a U.N. resolution as early as possible that will allow
the cessation of hostilities. Provided that resolution is agreed and acted
upon, we can, indeed, bring an end to this crisis. But nothing will work
unless, as well as an end to the immediate crisis, we put in place the
measures necessary to prevent it occurring again.

That is why I return at every opportunity to the basis of the United
Nations Resolution 1559 -- almost two years ago now -- that said precisely
what should happen in order to make sure that the southern part of Lebanon
was not used as a base for armed militia. The purpose of what we are
doing, therefore, is to bring about, yes, the cessation of hostilities,
which we want to see as quickly and as urgently as possible, but also to
put in place a framework that allows us to stabilize the situation for the
medium and longer-term.

In addition to that, we, both of us, believe it is important that we take
the opportunity to ensure that the Middle East peace process, which has
been in such difficulty over the past few months, is given fresh impetus
towards the two-state solution that we in the international community want
to see. In the end, that is of fundamental importance, also, to the
stability and peace of the region.

Now, in addition to all of these things -- and obviously, we discussed
Iraq, as the President has just said, and the work that our troops are
doing in Iraq and, indeed, in Afghanistan. And if I might, let me, once
again, pay tribute to the quite extraordinary professionalism, dedication,
bravery and commitment of the armed forces of both the United States and
the United Kingdom, and the many other countries that are working there
with us.

In addition to that, as the President indicated to you, we discussed the
situation in the Sudan. We will have an opportunity to discuss other
issues later, notably, obviously the World Trade talks and other such
things. But I want to emphasize, just in concluding my opening remarks, by
referring once again to the absolutely essential importance of ensuring
that not merely do we get the cessation of hostilities now in Lebanon, and
in respect of Israel, but that we take this opportunity -- since we know
why this has occurred, we know what started it, we know what the underlying
forces are behind what has happened in the past few weeks -- we take this
opportunity to set out and achieve a different strategic direction for the
whole of that region, which will allow the government of Lebanon to be in
control of its country, Lebanon to be the democracy its people want, and
also allow us to get the solution in respect of Palestine that we have
wanted so long to see.

If we are able, out of what has been a tragedy, a catastrophe for many of
the people in the region, to achieve such a thing, then we will have turned
what has been a situation of tragedy into one of opportunity. And we
intend to do that.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Good job.

Three questions a side. Tom.

Q Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister, with support apparently growing
among the Arab population, both Shia and Sunni, for Hezbollah by bounds, is
there a risk that every day that goes by without a cease-fire will tip this
conflict into a wider war?

And, Mr. President, when Secretary Rice goes back to the region, will she
have any new instructions, such as meeting with Syrians?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Her instructions are to work with Israel and Lebanon to
get a -- to come up with an acceptable U.N. Security Council resolution
that we can table next week. And secondly, it's really important for
people to understand that terrorists are trying to stop the advance of
freedom, and therefore, it's essential that we do what's right and not
necessarily what appears to be immediately popular.

There's a lot of suffering in Lebanon, because Hezbollah attacked Israel.
There's a lot of suffering in the Palestinian Territory because militant
Hamas is trying to stop the advance of democracy.

There is suffering in Iraq because terrorists are trying to spread
sectarian violence and stop the spread of democracy. And now is the time
for the free world to work to create the conditions so that people
everywhere can have hope.

And those are the stakes, that's what we face right now. We've got a plan
to deal with this immediate crisis. It's one of the reasons the Prime
Minister came, to talk about that plan. But the stakes are larger than
just Lebanon.

Isn't it interesting that when Prime Minister Olmert starts to reach out to
President Abbas to develop a Palestinian state, militant Hamas creates the
conditions so that there's crisis, and then Hezbollah follows up? Isn't it
interesting, as a democracy takes hold in Iraq, that al Qaeda steps up its
efforts to murder and bomb in order to stop the democracy?

And so one of the things that the people in the Middle East must understand
is that we're working to create the conditions of hope and opportunity for
all of them. And we'll continue to do that, Tom. That's -- this is the
challenge of the 21st century.

PRIME MINISTER BLAIR: It's very obvious what the strategy of terrorism is,
and of the actions that Hezbollah took. Their strategy is to commit an
outrage that provokes a reaction, and then on the back of the reaction, to
mobilize extreme elements, and then try and create a situation which even
moderate people feel drawn to their case. That's the strategy.

And you, quite rightly, say, well, isn't there a danger that the Arab
street and people in Arab Muslim countries become more sympathetic to
Hezbollah as a result of what's happened? That is their strategy. How do
we counter it? We counter it, one, by having our own strategy to bring the
immediate crisis to an end, which we do. That is what is important about
the Secretary of State visiting the region, getting an agreement, tabling
it to the United Nations, getting the endorsement of the United Nations,
having an international stabilization force to move into the situation.
We've got to deal with the immediate situation.

But then, as the President was saying a moment or two ago, we've then got
to realize what has happened in the past few weeks is not an isolated
incident. It is part of a bigger picture. Now, I'm going to say some more
things about this in the days to come, but we really will never understand
how we deal with this situation unless we understand that there is a big
picture out in the Middle East, which is about reactionary and terrorist
groups trying to stop what the vast majority of people in the Middle East
want, which is progress towards democracy, liberty, human rights, the same
as the rest of us.

Now, that's the battle that's going on. And, yes, it is always very
difficult when something like this happens, as it has happened over the
past few weeks. So we've got to resolve the immediate situation, but we
shouldn't be in any doubt at all, that will be a temporary respite unless
we put in place the longer-term framework.

Q Mr. President, you spoke of having a plan to rebuild houses in
Lebanon. Wouldn't the people of Lebanon rather know when you're going to
tell the Israelis to stop destroying houses?

And, Prime Minister, you've talked of having a plan today, but isn't the
truth that you and the President believe that Israel is on the right side
in the war on terror and you want them to win this war, not to stop it?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Look, we care deeply about the people whose lives have
been affected in Lebanon, just like we care deeply about the people whose
lives have been affected in Israel. There's over a million people in
Israel that are -- are threatened by this consistent rocket attack coming
out of Lebanon. And, yes, we want to help people rebuild their lives,
absolutely. But we also want to address the root causes of the problem.
And the root cause of the problem is you've got Hezbollah that is armed and
willing to fire rockets into Israel; a Hezbollah, by the way, that I firmly
believe is backed by Iran and encouraged by Iran.

And so for the sake of long-term stability, we've got to deal with this
issue now. Listen, the temptation is to say, it's too tough, let's just
try to solve it quickly with something that won't last; let's just get it
off the TV screens. But that won't solve the problem. And it's certainly
not going to help the Lebanese citizens have a life that is normal and
peaceful.

What is necessary is to help the Siniora government. And one way to help
the Siniora government is to make aid available to help rebuild the houses
that were destroyed. Another way to help the Siniora government is to
implement 1559, which is the disarmament of armed militia inside his
country.

And I -- look, we care deeply about the lives that have been affected on
both sides of this issue, just like I care deeply about the innocent people
who are being killed in Iraq, and people being denied a state in the
Palestinian Territory. But make no mistake about it, it is the goal and
aims of the terrorist organizations to stop that type of advance. That's
what they're trying to do. They're trying to evoke sympathy for
themselves. They're not sympathetic people. They're violent, cold-blooded
killers who are trying to stop the advance of freedom.

And this is the calling of the 21st century, it seems like to me, and now
is the time to confront the problem. And of course, we're going to help
the people in Lebanon rebuild their lives. But as Tony said, this conflict
started, out of the blue, with two Israeli soldiers kidnapped and rockets
being fired across the border.

Now, we have urged restraint. We made it clear that we care about wanton
destruction. On the other hand, in my judgment, it would be a big mistake
not to solve the underlying problems. Otherwise everything will seem fine,
and then you'll be back at a press conference, saying, how come you didn't
solve the underlying problems?

PRIME MINISTER BLAIR: We feel deeply for people in Lebanon and people in
Israel who are the innocent casualties of this conflict, of course, we do.
And we want it to stop and we want it to stop now. And what we're putting
forward today is actually a practical plan that would lead to a U.N.
resolution, could be early next week, that would allow it, put in place the
conditions for it to stop.

But what we've also got to do is to make sure that we recognize that this
action wasn't simply aimed against Israel, and then Israel retaliated. It
was also aimed against the proper government of Lebanon being able to
control its own country. And the very reason why, two years ago, the
international community passed this resolution was because people could see
that what was going to happen in southern Lebanon was that these Hezbollah
militias, that are armed and financed by Iran and by Syria, were going to
move into the south of the country in order to be a focus of terrorism and
discontent.

Now, that is the fact. And, of course, all of us are appalled at the
destruction and loss of life. Of course, we are. And that's why we've
actually come together today with a viable plan, if people can agree it, as
I believe they can, to get it stopped. But once you stop this violence
happening now
-- which, of course, we should do -- once you do, it doesn't alter the
underlying reality unless we've got a framework that allows us to put the
government of Lebanon properly back in charge of its own country; unless
we've got the commitment to take forward the Israel-Palestine two state
deal, which is there and which everyone wants to see; and then if we can --
unless we mobilize the international community, to deal with the threat
that Iran poses.

And there's no other way out of this. We're not -- we can, all of us, make
whatever statements we want to do, use whatever words we want to do, but
the brutal reality of the situation is that we're only going to get
violence stopped and stability introduced on the basis of clear principles.

Now, as I say, we've set out a way to do this. But it requires the
long-term, as well as the short-term.

Q Thank you. Mr. President, on the issue of a multinational force, what
shape should it take, who should lead it, who should be part of it? And
also, should Hezbollah agreeing to it be a precondition for setting up the
force?

And, Mr. Prime Minister, you talked about a resolution leading to a
cessation of hostilities, and I'm just wondering, should it include a call
for an immediate cease-fire?

PRESIDENT BUSH: In terms of the troops, that's what the meeting Monday is
going to be about. And this is one of these issues that requires
international consensus, people who put forth ideas, and we'll participate
in terms of trying to help develop a consensus about what the force ought
to look like.

In a general sense, though, the force needs to serve as a complement to a
Lebanese force. See, that's the whole purpose of the force, is to
strengthen the Lebanese government by helping the Lebanese force move into
the area. The whole cornerstone of the policy for Lebanon is for Lebanon
to be free and able to govern herself and defend herself with a viable
force.

And so one of the things you'll see in discussions there is, how do we help
the Lebanese army succeed? What does it -- what's required? What's the
manpower need to be in order to help this force move into the south so the
government can take control of the country. What it looks like -- if I
hold a press conference on Tuesday, I'll be able to answer that better.
But since I probably won't be, read your newspaper.

Q What about Hezbollah --

PRESIDENT BUSH: That's a part of the conditions that they'll be
discussing. That's what they'll be talking about. The key is to have
Lebanon agree with it. And the key is to have Israel agree with it. Those
are the two parties. Hezbollah is not a state. They're a supposed
political party that happens to be armed. Now, what kind of state is it
that has got a political party that has got a militia? It's a state that
needs to be helped, is what that is. And we need to help the Siniora
government deal with a political party that is armed, that gets its arms
and help from other parts of the world -- in order for Lebanon's democracy
to succeed.

A lot has changed in Lebanon. It wasn't all that long ago that Lebanon was
occupied by Syria. And we came together and worked in the U.N. Security
Council, and Syria is now out of Lebanon. But part of the resolution that
enabled Syria to get out was that Hezbollah would disarm. And if we truly
want peace in the region, we've got to follow through on that 1559, and
that's what the whole strategy is. And part of the peacekeepers will be to
-- or the multinational force, whatever you call them, will be in there
trying to help the government.

PRIME MINISTER BLAIR: Just on the international force, the thing that's
very important to realize is that the purpose of it, obviously, is to help
stabilize the situation. But it's also to allow the government of
Lebanon's true armed forces to come down from the north and occupy the
south, themselves. In other words, the purpose of the force is almost as a
bridge between the north and the south in order to allow the forces of the
government of Lebanon to come down and do what Resolution 1559 always
anticipated would happen.

And as for your second question, yes, of course, the U.N. resolution, the
passing of it, the agreeing of it can be the occasion for the end of
hostilities if it's acted upon and agreed upon. And that requires not just
the government of Israel and the government of Lebanon, obviously, to abide
by it, but also for the whole of the international community to exert the
necessary pressure so that there is the cessation of hostilities on both
sides. Now, that will be important, also, in making it very clear to
Hezbollah and those that back Hezbollah that they have to allow the
stabilization force to enter.

But, yes, of course -- look, anybody with any human feeling for what is
going on there wants this to stop as quickly as possible. And we have a
process that allows us to do this, but it's got to be acted on. It's not
just going to be agreed in theory, it's got to be acted on, too.

Q Thank you. Mr. President, and Prime Minister Blair, can I ask you
both tonight what your messages are for the governments of Iran and Syria,
given that you say this is the crisis of the 21st century?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Want me to start? My message is, give up your nuclear
weapon and your nuclear weapon ambitions. That's my message to Syria -- I
mean, to Iran. And my message to Syria is, become an active participant in
the neighborhood for peace.

PRIME MINISTER BLAIR: The message is very, very simple to them. It is
that, you have a choice. Iran and Syria have a choice. And they may think
that they can avoid this choice; in fact, they can't. And when things are
set in train like what has happened in Lebanon over the past few weeks, it
only, in my view, underscores the fact they have this choice. They can
either come in and participate as proper and responsible members of the
international community, or they will face the risk of increasing
confrontation.

And coming in and being proper members of the international community does
not mean -- though I would love to see both Syria and Iran proper
democracies -- does not mean to say that we insist that they change their
government or even their system of government, although, of course, we want
to see change in those countries. But it does mean Iran abides by its
obligations under the nuclear weapons treaty. It does mean that Iran and
Syria stop supporting terrorism. It does mean that instead of trying to
prevent the democratically-elected government of Iraq fulfill its mandate,
they allow it to fulfill its mandate.

Now, that's their choice. It's a perfectly simple one. They can either
decide they are going to abide by the rules of the international community
or continue to transgress them. And, look, in the end, that's the choice
that they will have to make. But where I think they make a strategic
miscalculation is if they think that because of all the other issues that
we have to resolve and so on, that we are indifferent to what they are
doing. There will be no side-tracking of our determination, for example,
to make sure that Iran is fully compliant with the call that's been made on
them from the whole of the international community in respect of nuclear
weapons capability. And I hope they realize there is a different
relationship that is possible with the international community, but only on
the basis that has been set out.

PRESIDENT BUSH: David Gregory.

Q Thank you. Mr. President, both of you, I'd like to ask you about the
big picture that you're discussing. Mr. President, three years ago, you
argued that an invasion of Iraq would create a new stage of Arab-Israeli
peace. And yet today, there is an Iraqi Prime Minister who has been
sharply critical of Israel. Arab governments, despite your arguments, who
have criticized Hezbollah, have now changed their tune. Now they're
sharply critical of Israel. And despite from both of you, warnings to
Syria and Iran to back off support from Hezbollah, effectively, Mr.
President, your words are being ignored. So what has happened to America's
clout in this region that you've committed yourself to transform?

PRESIDENT BUSH: David, it's an interesting period because instead of
having foreign policies based upon trying to create a sense of stability,
we have a foreign policy that addresses the root causes of violence and
instability.

For a while, American foreign policy was just, let's hope everything is
calm, kind of managed calm. But beneath the surface brewed a lot of
resentment and anger that was manifested in its -- on September the 11th.
And so we've taken a foreign policy that says, on the one hand, we will
protect ourselves from further attack in the short-run by being aggressive
and chasing down the killers and bringing them to justice -- and make no
mistake, they're still out there, and they would like to harm our
respective peoples because of what we stand for -- in the long-term, to
defeat this ideology, and they're bound by an ideology. You defeat it with
a more hopeful ideology called freedom.

And, look, I fully understand some people don't believe it's possible for
freedom and democracy to overcome this ideology of hatred. I understand
that. I just happen to believe it is possible, and I believe it will
happen. And so what you're seeing is a clash of governing styles, for
example. The notion of democracy beginning to emerge scares the
ideologues, the totalitarians, those who want to impose their vision. It
just frightens them, and so they respond. They've always been violent.

I hear this amazing kind of editorial thought that says, all of a sudden
Hezbollah has become violent because we're promoting democracy. They have
been violent for a long period of time. Or Hamas. One reason why the
Palestinians still suffer is because there are militants who refuse to
accept a Palestinian state based upon democratic principles.

And so what the world is seeing is a desire by this country and our allies
to defeat the ideology of hate with an ideology that has worked and that
brings hope. And one of the challenges, of course, is to convince people
that Muslims would like to be free, that there's other people other than
people in Britain and America that would like to be free in the world.
There's this kind of almost -- kind of weird kind of elitism, that says,
well, maybe certain people in certain parts of the world shouldn't be free;
maybe it's best just to let them sit in these tyrannical societies. And
our foreign policy rejects that concept. We don't accept it.

And so we're working. And this is -- as I said the other day, when these
attacks took place, I said this should be a moment of clarity for people to
see the stakes in the 21st century. I mean, there's an unprovoked attack
on a democracy. Why? I happen to believe, because progress is being made
toward democracies. And I believe that -- I also believe that Iran would
like to exert additional influence in the region. A theocracy would like
to spread its influence using surrogates.

And so I'm as determined as ever to continue fostering a foreign policy
based upon liberty. And I think it's going to work, unless we lose our
nerve and quit. And this government isn't going to quit.

Q I asked you about the loss of American influence in the region.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, David, we went to the G8 and worked with our allies
and got a remarkable statement on what took place. We're working to get a
United Nations resolution on Iran. We're working to have a Palestinian
state. But the reason why -- you asked the question -- is because
terrorists are trying to stop that progress. And we'll ultimately prevail,
because they have -- their ideology is so dark and so dismal that when
people really think about it, it will be rejected. They just got a
different tool to use than we do: They kill innocent lives to achieve
objectives. That's what they do. And they're good. They get on the TV
screens and they get people to ask questions about, well, this, that or the
other. I mean, they're able to kind of say to people, don't come and
bother us because we will kill you.

And my attitude is, is that now is the time to be firm. And we've got a
great weapon on our side, and that is freedom, and liberty. And it's got
-- those two concepts have got the capacity to defeat ideologies of hate.

PRIME MINISTER BLAIR: I don't think, actually, it's anything to do with a
loss of American influence at all. I think -- we've got to go back and ask
what changed policy, because policy has changed in the past few years. And
what changed policy was September the 11th. That changed policy, but
actually, before September the 11th this global movement with a global
ideology was already in being. September the 11th was the culmination of
what they wanted to do. But, actually -- and this is probably where the
policymakers, such as myself, were truly in error -- is that even before
September the 11th, this was happening in all sorts of different ways in
different countries.

I mean, in Algeria, for example, tens and tens of thousands of people lost
their lives. This movement has grown, it is there, it will latch on to any
cause that it possibly can and give it a dimension of terrorism and hatred.
You can see this. You can see it in Kashmir, for example. You can see it
in Chechnya. You can see it in Palestine.

Now, what is its purpose? Its purpose is to promote its ideology based
upon the perversion of Islam, and to use any methods at all, but
particularly terrorism, to do that, because they know that the value of
terrorism to them is -- as I was saying a moment or two ago, it's not
simply the act of terror, it's the chain reaction that terror brings with
it. Terrorism brings the reprisal; the reprisal brings the additional
hatred; the additional hatred breeds the additional terrorism, and so on.
But in a small way, we lived through that in Northern Ireland over many,
many decades.

Now, what happened after September the 11th -- and this explains, I think,
the President's policy, but also the reason why I have taken the view, and
still take the view that Britain and America should remain strong allies,
shoulder-to-shoulder in fighting this battle, is that we are never going to
succeed unless we understand they are going to fight hard. The reason why
they are doing what they're doing in Iraq at the moment -- and, yes, it's
really tough as a result of it -- is because they know that if, right in
the center of the Middle East, in an Arab, Muslim country, you've got a
non-sectarian democracy, in other words people weren't governed either by
religious fanatics or secular dictators, you've got a genuine democracy of
the people, how does their ideology flourish in such circumstances?

So they have imported the terrorism into that country, preyed on whatever
reactionary elements there are to boost it. And that's why we have the
issue there; that's why the Taliban are trying to come back in Afghanistan.
That is why, the moment it looked as if you could get progress in Israel
and Palestine, it had to be stopped. That's the moment when, as they saw
there was a problem in Gaza, so they realized, well, there's a possibility
now we can set Lebanon against Israel.

Now, it's a global movement, it's a global ideology. And if there's any
mistake that's ever made in these circumstances, it's if people are
surprised that it's tough to fight, because you're up against an ideology
that's prepared to use any means at all, including killing any number of
wholly innocent people.

And I don't dispute part of the implication of your question at all, in the
sense that you look at what is happening in the Middle East and what is
happening in Iraq and Lebanon and Palestine, and, of course, there's a
sense of shock and frustration and anger at what is happening, and grief at
the loss of innocent lives. But it is not a reason for walking away. It's
a reason for staying the course, and staying it no matter how tough it is,
because the alternative is actually letting this ideology grip a larger and
larger number of people.

And it is going to be difficult. Look, we've got a problem even in our own
Muslim communities in Europe, who will half-buy into some of the propaganda
that's pushed at it -- the purpose of America is to suppress Islam, Britain
has joined with America in the suppression of Islam. And one of the things
we've got to stop doing is stop apologizing for our own positions. Muslims
in America, as far as I'm aware of, are free to worship; Muslims in Britain
are free to worship. We are plural societies.

It's nonsense, the propaganda is nonsense. And we're not going to defeat
this ideology until we in the West go out with sufficient confidence in our
own position and say, this is wrong. It's not just wrong in its methods,
it's wrong in its ideas, it's wrong in its ideology, it's wrong in every
single wretched reactionary thing about it. And it will be a long
struggle, I'm afraid. But there's no alternative but to stay the course
with it. And we will.

Q Can I ask you both how soon realistically you think there could be an
end to the violence, given there's no signs at the moment of 1559 being
met? I mean, do you think we're looking at more weeks, months, or can it
be achieved sooner than that? And also, will the multinational force
potentially be used to effect a cease-fire, or simply to police an
agreement once we eventually get to that?

PRIME MINISTER BLAIR: Well, the answer to the first point is, as soon as
possible. And if we can get the U.N. resolution agreed next week and acted
upon, then it can happen, and it can happen then. We want to see it happen
as quickly as possible, but the conditions have got to be in place to allow
it to happen.

And in relation to the multinational force, what will be -- it's not going
to be the opportunity to fight -- to fight their way in. But the very way
that you posed that question underlines this basic point, which is, this
can only work if Hezbollah are prepared to allow it to work. And we've got
to make sure, therefore, that we have the force go in as part of an
agreement that the government of Lebanon has bound itself to, the
government of Israel has bound itself to, the international community has
bound itself to. And Hezbollah have got to appreciate that if they stand
out against that, then it's not really that they will be doing a huge
disservice to the people of Lebanon, but they will also, again, face the
fact that action will have to be taken against them.

PRESIDENT BUSH: We share the same urgency of trying to stop the violence.
It's why Condi Rice went out there very quickly. Her job is to, first and
foremost, was to make it clear to the Lebanese people that we wanted to
send aid and help, and help work on the corridors necessary to get the aid
to the Lebanese people. And she's coming back to the region tonight, will
be there tomorrow. I could have called her back here and could have sat
around, visited and talked. But I thought it was important for her to go
back to the region to work on a United Nations Security Council resolution.

So, like the Prime Minister, I would like to end this as quickly as
possible, as well. Having said that, I want to make sure that we address
the root cause of the problem. And I believe the plan that Tony and I
discussed will yield exactly what we want, and that is addressing the root
cause of the problem.